Prayer Requests

Sometimes you feel helpless

By Lisa B on September 8, 2009

but there’s always something we can do. PRAY. That sounds like a quick answer to any problem. One of my good friends would always stop and pray right then and there if a request was brought up. Used to freak some people out — you know, the ones who liked to gossip under the premise of a prayer request? Of course you don’t know people like that But when you asked my friend to pray for such-and-such, he would stop, pray and then your perspective would change.

I feel helpless right now. My cousin, Kiera is headed to the ER again. She’s been in pain since Thursday and the doctors (yes, that plural!) have not done anything to help her. She has crohn’s disease which I understand a little — but she has something else too that causes her pain. Mom’s not sure what that’s called. Regardless, God knows what’s wrong and He can see her even though she’s a couple of states away from me.

So, I would really appreciate it if you would say a prayer for her right now. I know prayer works. I can tell you many, many cool prayer stories! Don’t ever doubt that prayer works! Pray for her pain to be eased. Pray for the doctors to know what to do to help her. Pray for guidance for her and her parents if she should come down here to see some other specialists. I’m not a Duke basketball fan, but they have some of the best medical staff in the country. Besides, there has to be a good reason we live in blue devil territory — having friends who all work there, I hope, will help me help my cousin get to the right doctor!

| Filed Under: Prayer Requests

It’s all a matter of perspective

By Lisa B on July 29, 2009

Why I feel the need to be so totally honest on my blog lately, I don’t know. I mean I thought posting a picture of the “real” me would probably scare quite a few of you off. But you’re still here. Hey Mom, Dad and My Genius Better Half

Over the weekend I started feeling very sad. I don’t really know why other than it happens religiously once a month. I really hate to use that as an excuse, but every month? Ok, so maybe it was satan attacking me. Yeah, we’ll go with that. I’ve been trying to stay upbeat and positive about going to She Speaks this weekend. I’m nervous. I don’t feel like I fit in like I think I should with certain people, and I’m trying to remind myself it’s ok. God has a plan. He might not want me to click with those people. Maybe there are others at the conference that I need to reach out to.

If you know anything about me, you might realize it’s not easy for me to be optimistic and positive — normally speaking, I have a tendency to look at what could go wrong with anything and everything “just to be prepared.” Negative thoughts started flooding my brain. I couldn’t breathe. Well, my brain couldn’t breathe, I was breathing just fine.

Saturday was a rough day and Sunday morning Duck asked if I wanted to go to church. No, I don’t. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay in bed and feel sorry for myself. But I stopped and thought. That would just make the devil happy if I didn’t go to church. Then I got mad. Forget him. I’m not going to let him win. So there. We went to church. Duck’s group played for a Sunday evening service at another church and I went to that too. So there devil.

I felt a lot better after Sunday ended because the focus wasn’t on me any more. It was on uplifting praise-filled music. It was on the sermon and sunday school lesson.

Then Monday morning came. I got the news that a young lady I’ve played softball with and against was killed this weekend. She was evidently at a family reunion, and she along with 20+ others were crossing the street. A car crossed the yellow lines, hit them (killed the lady I know and another) and ran off. They do have him in custody. She will definitely be missed on the softball field. Many of us have known her for years.

This week I’ve been looking at things from a different perspective. Life is short. You never know when your time to go is and you need to make the best of it while you can. So, I’m focused on God and what He has planned for me today, tomorrow, and this weekend.

Please pray for She Speaks: all who are attending and presenting, especially the team who is working so hard to organize everything! Pray for Julie Hatch’s family as well as the ones who are still in the hospital hit by this guy. Pray for the guy too. He’s going to be in jail for a very, very long time. I pray God brings a lot of good out of this tragedy.

| Filed Under: Personal, Prayer Requests, She Speaks

Mission Field

By Lisa B on April 28, 2009

This post has been bouncing around my head for the past few days. It’s a hard post to write. It makes me uncomfortable and I hate to be uncomfortable.

I am a typical, spoiled, selfish American.

Ever since I’ve been saved and heard it preached that we need to go out into the mission field, I’ve said “Lord, just don’t send me to Africa.” You know the attitude. It’s not that Africa is the only place in the world that needs to hear about Jesus, but that’s typically people’s first reactions when you start talking about missions.

There were a few representatives from Compassion International at She Speaks last year. The rumor came to our table that they were looking for some bloggers to go on their next trip (at the time to the Dominican Republic). Robin got a light in her eyes — a passion burning deep inside her. She wanted to go on a trip with Compassion. She got excited and started talking about how awesome and hard it would be to go on a trip like that. I shrunk down in a corner thinking, “God, please don’t send me to another country. I have no desire whatsoever to go.”

Robin applied to go, but wasn’t chosen for the Dominican Republic trip, but she was chosen for the India trip. She’s there right now. Her writing is so awesome I cannot even describe it … my words fail. Her stories along with the others I’ve read are breaking my heart and bringing tears to my eyes.

In all honesty I have a bad view of India. Many friends and a few family members have been laid off from a big company around here that is sending all these jobs over to India. I know it’s not the people there’s fault, but it just makes me mad. I think the company is taking advantage of people over there and they are affecting our comfortable lives over here. Ouch.

From these stories I’ve been reading and pictures I’ve been looking at, it’s surreal. I cannot imagine being there. Being uncomfortable in no-air-conditioning and 110 degree weather.

I talked to a couple of good friends of mine a few years ago about missions. I told them my heart doesn’t hurt for people in other countries and I feel guilty about that. I know in my mind that we have tons more than they would ever have. But I don’t feel a passion … a huge desire to go to another country. My heart hurts for the people I see in this country. The ones who are walking around, dead inside. The ones who have all this *stuff* and still aren’t happy. They don’t know the peace of God.

“You’re just home missions minded,” they told me. The mission field is all around us … the people we see everyday … and even the people we don’t see everyday but talk to on the Internet. I may be selfish wanting to sit in my air-conditioned house and say the Internet is my mission field, but I desire to follow God’s will for my life. My talents and knowledge put me on the Internet … not in an office and not half-way around the world … at least not physically.

So back to my buddy Robin in India. Even though God chose not to send me and to send Robin (a wise decision indeed), there are many things we can do to help others who are passionate about international missions.

The most important thing we can ever do is pray! Pray for the team in India; for their safety and wellbeing; for their minds and hearts to be able to process all they see; for God to give them the words and reliable internet connection to relay to us what they are seeing.
Sponsor a child. I have been struggling with this one for quite awhile. I think we should sponsor a child, but then I get caught up in our “lack of money.” I’m going to talk to Duck about sponsoring a child through Compassion. I need to get Doodle into this too. She truly doesn’t realize how well she has it.

And if you are so inclined, say a quick prayer for me to be less me-minded and more others-minded. Thanks.

Here’s Duck singing a very relevant song … I think the name is “My House is Full” but don’t hold me to it.

My House is Full [ 2:43 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Keep track of all that’s going on with the Compassion Bloggers in India this week:

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| Filed Under: Blessings, Bloggin', Family, Prayer Requests, Writing

Many prayers needed

By Lisa B on April 24, 2009

There are many prayers needed not only for today but this weekend and the coming week.

One of my virtual buddies, Becki, is in the hospital. Her and her husband have become good friends over the past several years of working together on projects. They are not sure what’s wrong, so I’m praying the doctors will be able to figure out what’s wrong and that she’ll be healed quickly and return home.

Another of my virtual buddies, Karen is at the hospital with her mom. Her mom is potentially facing heart surgery to open up some blockages or bypass them. They are not sure that her mom can withstand the surgery, but there’s a chance of her having a stroke if she doesn’t have the surgery.

Last but definitely not least, another of my virtual buddies (this one I’ve met in real life a few times though!) is on her way to India. Ya’ll, when I met Robin at She Speaks last year I was drawn into her presence. She makes you feel safe — she’s the kind of person that you know will listen to your deepest darkest secrets and not only keep them secret, but not judge you as well. Yes, you can know this within minutes of meeting her for the first time. She’s the kind of gal who can take one look at the pain in your eyes and drag you off to the bathroom in a Mexican restaurant to pray.

While we were at She Speaks last year though, Compassion International had a booth setup. Robin mentioned that she desperately wanted to go on a Bloggers trip that they do. When Shannon @ Rocks in my dryer told her they were looking for some to go to the Dominican Republic, she went over to the table and expressed her interest. She wasn’t chosen to go on that trip, but she was, however, chosen to go on this trip to India…the one they left for today. I know she was nervous about the 15-hour flight to get there and what she’d see and how she’ll convey all that. I know God’s going to use her in a mighty way. Her writing style is so descriptive and so well done.

Please pray for the whole team and follow their updates.

| Filed Under: Prayer Requests

I see hurting people.

By Lisa B on March 2, 2009

Ever have those times when you’ve written a post (or three) in your head and you’re positive you’ve already posted it. Well, that’s kind of how I feel about this one. So if you’ve heard this before, give me a lot of grace. This has a little twist.

As some of you may know, we’ve been visiting some different churches and praying about where God would have us to serve. It has been difficult for a few years now that we have not had a church to serve in — people to get to know — friends to make. We were out riding motorcycles back in September and we came across a country church not too far from our house. We visited once around then.

Fast forward to February and we decided to go back to that church (Berry’s Grove). It amazed us that the preacher remembered our faces, and what area we had told him we live, but couldn’t remember our names. It didn’t amaze us that he didn’t remember our names. We really didn’t expect him to remember us at all given we’d visited one Sunday about 5 months before. We enjoyed his sermons and decided to give Sunday School a try.

Duck and I have gone to the Adult 1 Sunday School class the past 3 weeks. This class is taught by the preacher’s wife, Tonya. The first class was out of the quarterly which to tell you the truth, sometimes I don’t like. When I first became a Christian, I didn’t know a lot of the Bible and I soaked up all the information I could. But the next year when it seemed to be going over the same scripture, I was just ready for more. Tonya made it interesting though, so we went back.

The second week, she decided not to use the quarterly and did an impromtu lesson. Well, I don’t know if impromtu is necessarily the right word since she was doing what God led her to do. She talked about our relationship with God and how if that relationship isn’t right — our relationships with others are not going to be right. It gave me a lot to think about last week as I was trying to make sure I get in my quiet time every day.

Yesterday she talked a lot about the relationships with people around us. How we should care for one another — love one another — lift one another up in prayer. We had a full class — more than I’d seen in there ever — and there were some hurting people. Some shared some very specific prayer requests. Tonya made the point that specific prayer requests not only help those who are being prayed for, but us as well when we see the prayers being answered by our awesome God. She encouraged everyone to share specifics if they felt comfortable and a few did. Mercy, sympathy, PMS, whatever-you-want-to-call-it, I cried along with these requests.

I don’t know these people yet. Everytime we visit a church, I look around and all I see are hurting people. Mainly God puts the hurting women on my heart. It hurts me because I want to help — I want to pray — I want to be friends and let God use me to maybe make their day a little brighter. But that all takes time. Time after you join a church. It’s not going to happen immediately. So even if Berry’s Grove is the church God would have us serve in, it’s going to be awhile before we settle in and get to know people — know what to pray for — know how to encourage.

I see hurting women all over the place. I even see them online. Some of them I see online way too much — but that’s another post I’ve written in my head. Yesterday I felt like God was confirming that He wants me to share my stories. He wants to use me to reach others. He wants my voice out there. That scares me a little because the thought of talking in front of people makes me nervous. But God’s given me some messages I think I’m supposed to give to women — whether here or in person.

Even though I didn’t speak up in the class, I’m going to make my prayer request known here. I know many of you will pray for me and I so desperately need all the help I can get — every.single.day. Pray for us to find the church God would have us serve in. Help us to open ourselves up to the new people we’ll meet — to be able to support and love on them, and for them to do the same to us. Give me patience and wisdom to know when to “jump” in and help and when to just listen or let things slide. Pray for God to confirm in me His call — whether to write, speak, or both.

Thank you for stopping by here today and reading all this. If there’s anything I can pray for you about, leave me a comment or send me an email at lisab (at) lisaboyd (dot) com. I may not get to see you in church on Sundays, but God sees both of us and we can pray for each other.

| Filed Under: Church, Prayer Requests

Preparing for BlissDom ’09

By Lisa B on February 4, 2009

I would greatly appreciate your prayers this weekend. Tomorrow I’ll be driving roughly 8 hours to Nashville, TN for BlissDom. I started to say that the BlissDom Conference is for women, but they don’t actually target women — at least not on their site. I know there will be men there — a few any way. One I’ve heard is supposed to sing to us. Maybe the others are just coming for the PJ Party or the karaoke?

Anyway, I’m starting to get a little nervous. Last year at She Speaks I felt weird in the Bloggers Reception room. I mean, there were several bloggers in that room that I read — and because I have read their blogs, I felt like I knew them. But it’d be really weird to just run up to them and start talking to them like they are your best friend. Know what I mean? I figured most would look at me like I’m totally crazy and all like “who are you? you blog where?” — that sort of thing.

But this time there are a few bloggers who I know I’m going to meet up with and I hope that it won’t be weird. I mean I hope I don’t feel all stalkerish for talking to them.

I met Dawn @ My Home Sweet Home last year at She Speaks and she’s going to be my roomie for this weekend. Robin @ Pensieve is also going to be there. She’s so sweet and very easy to talk to — if she thought I was a freak last year, she didn’t show it Shannon @ Rocks In My Dryer is going to be there too — and while I’ve talked to here a little bit here and there, she was one of the superstars last year that I felt really weird to talk to. Actually I sat around listening a lot. I’ve found you learn a lot when you listen!

Then there’s Melanie @ Don’t Try This at Home and Blogging Basics 101. I have a feeling she and I will be talking geek all weekend I hope she’ll be ok if I attach myself to her. Ok, maybe that would be a little too stalkerish.

Duck’s being very supportive and telling me to relax and just go and meet people. It’s awesome to have that kind of support at home, because he’s going to have to do the routines with Doodle. I think if I’m not home, things will go a little smoother for them because Doodle won’t be trying to manipulate me for more time playing games, or not doing her homework.

A lot of women who are going to be there have been Twitterin’ about being shy, stuck in the corneer, etc. I can so relate. I think I used to be an extrovert “back in the day” but since I’ve been at home for so long, I think I’ve lost some of my social skills. So if I happen to meet you this weekend and do something socially faux paus, please forgive me. I’ll blame it on the nerves or being out of practice!

I’ll be Twitterin’ during the sessions and trying to blog too. I’ll also be scouring the corners. Since there’s probably only 4 corners to a room, not everyone can be by themselves. So move over and share some space

I’ve got a new Twitter ID: lisaboyd — you can check out that page and see what I’m doing. But if you would, send up a prayer or three for safe travels. I’ll be driving there on Thursday and driving back Sunday. Thanks

| Filed Under: Bloggin', Conferences, Family, Prayer Requests

Prayer Requests

By Lisa B on November 5, 2008

My heart is heavy this morning for many reasons. I have some prayer requests for you. I greatly appreciate any prayers you can send up for me.

A girl in Doodle’s grade lost her dad Monday afternoon unexpectedly. His body was found less than a mile from the school near a river, in a state park. I have no idea how he died, but I do know the family will need many prayers. I don’t know this girl or her family, and I’m not sure they are Christians. I told Doodle about it last night when I found out. And what makes this a little harder on her brings me to the next item …
Duck and I are flying out tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, to attend my niece’s wedding in Las Vegas. Before you start with any judgments about “sin city” and gambling, my brother served in the Air Force for many, many years and was stationed at the Air Force base there for many of those many, many years There are actually real live houses with fences, pools and dogs away from “the Strip.” Anyway, pray for us — it’s going to be a long flight (at least the first leg out and the first leg back). Pray for Doodle as she’s going to be with Grandma and Grandpa. With the counseling I’m sure they’re going to be receiving at school, I just hope she doesn’t get down thinking we aren’t coming back.
Be with my family as we gather for the wedding. I hope all goes as my niece dreams it will. I’m praying for their marriage as well. She’s marrying an Air Force dude, and he’s being stationed overseas in February of 2009. It’s tough enough being married together, much less apart — although that might make it easier in some respects
Pray for our country. I am heartbroken over the election for many reasons. I don’t think the electoral votes showed how split we are as a nation. There’s only one time in my life I have seen Americans come together — proud to be an American and supporting each other — and that was 9-11-01. I thought life would never be the same, but some time after that we eventually got back into our comfy routines. I hope we can come together as a country, but I don’t see it happening. That’s why I’m thankful that my God is bigger than all of it.

I was going to post yesterday about the Women of Faith conference but things were crazy with Duck and Doodle both home all day. I seriously cannot think straight when they are home I even forgot with all the hoopla that yesterday was my Dad’s birthday — Happy Birthday Dad! I’ll be seeing you tomorrow It’s sad to me that I forgot — I’m a Daddy’s Girl through and through. I hate how life can be so distracting sometimes. Oh well, pray for me not to be distracted too. I believe God’s not done with me yet. I just need to start listening for Him again.